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Buy-to-let property market 'shows signs of saturation'

AS many as 15,000 houses and apartments bought in Ireland as investments are lying idle because their owners cannot find tenants. This stark assessment of the state of the Irish residential investment market was made last week by Robbie Kelleher, the chief economist at Davy Stockbrokers.

Separately National Irish Bank, which has between 3% and 5% of the Irish mortgage market, has reduced its maximum loan-to-value ratio for inner-city apartments in Dublin from 80% to 75%. The adjustment follows an analysis of the inner-city apartment markets in Ireland and the UK.

According to the bank, it is concerned about inflated values in some sectors of the market and also about the possibility of an oversupply of what it calls “lifestyle” apartments. These are generally inner-city apartments aimed at young professionals.

Kelleher, who is one of the most respected economists in Ireland, bases his analysis on figures released recently on housing